This project involved the construction of a two-level building for mixed-use commercial activities in the heart of the new Frankton Flats area. Bayleys is the primary tenant and occupies the entire lower floor office tenancy. The building comprises a ground floor area of 503m2 and a first-floor area of 491m2 (including amenity spaces).
Building materials have been selected to reflect the character of the area being a mixture of typical commercial and industrial options. These include grey standing seam roof and wall cladding, timber-cladded soffits, dark aluminium composite panels and board-formed precast concrete. Wire trellising on the northeast elevation will allow vines to grow up the façade over time. This will soften the elevation and provide a unique feature to the built form.
In terms of innovative solutions, 'Comflor' has been used for the upper floor which avoided the need for propping on the ground floor and meant that the ground floor slab could be poured earlier.
The key challenges of this build have been the structural solution and sequencing. Due to the poor ground conditions, a significant tonnage of reinforcing steel and concrete has been required in the foundation to hold up the steel frame above. Structural steel sizes in the walls and ceilings have also been required to be sized to accommodate large spans to assist the open-plan office environment. This has created challenges in relation to the distribution of services around the building.
Project Specification Detail:
Location: Corner of Hawthorn Drive and 'Main Street' within Frankton Flats
Floor Area: 994m2
Build Start Date: (including bulk earthworks)
Scheduled Completion Date: Base build - March 2018 and completion - July 2018.
Consultant Team:
Project/ Construction Management/ Main Contractor: Triple Star
Architect: Ignite
Engineer: Holmes Consulting
Interior Fit-out Consultant: Platform Consulting Group
Services Design: Electrical Consulting Services Ltd (ECS)